Pumpkin Spice Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why does my pumpkin bread have no flavor? ›

That means—don't leave out the salt, don't cut the amount of sugar, and use the specified amount of cinnamon. This is important because flour is what I like to call a “flavor thief”— it sucks the flavor out of ingredients. So, if you don't follow the recipe as specified, you risk a bland tasting pumpkin bread.

Mix your ingredients until they are just combined — you should still have some lumps in the batter. Dry bread: Dry pumpkin bread is such a disappointment. To avoid dry, crumbly bread, try to keep your batter moist. Either do this by using less flour or adding more liquid — but don't add more oil.

Pumpkin pie spice is the same as pumpkin spice, just under different labeling. These two are interchangeable and feature the same base ingredients. The ratio of the ingredients may vary slightly from brand to brand.

Allspice is a warm and cozy spice that tastes like a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but pumpkin pie spice is a bit more robust and flavorful with all those spices plus ginger. Allspice alone, while delicious, won't give you that signature pumpkin spice flavor.

Pumpkin is a versatile ingredient that pairs well with both sweet and savory flavors. To complement pumpkin with sweet flavor pairings, consider using spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla, or sweet ingredients like chocolate, maple, honey, cranberries or brown sugar.

You might think you could overcome the lack of flavor by adding more pumpkin purée to your recipe, but you'd be mistaken: By the time you've added enough purée to taste it, your baked good would have a soggy texture on account of all that moisture.

Add Milk

To make your bread soft and fluffy, another trick used by commercial bakers is replacing water with milk. Milk has fats which make bread softer.

Pumpkin bread can become dense if there is not enough hydration or wet ingredients in the recipe. Another cause is overcooking the bread which can cause it to dry out. Remember, it's always easy to keep cooking if it isn't done but impossible to take cooking time back.

When the toothpick comes out clean, the bread is done. If not, bake 5-10 minutes longer and recheck. PRO-Tip: Do not pull the loaves out without doing a toothpick check. If you remove the loaf too early, the middle will be raw.

My favorite substitution for pumpkin pie spice is cinnamon, anise, and cloves. It tastes kind of different (a tiny kick of black licorice taste), but it's easier on the stomach if you're sensitive.

Can you use mixed spice instead of pumpkin spice? ›

Our answer. Nigella's Chocolate Fruit Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) uses pumpkin pie spice in the US version of the recipe (you may have the US version of the book) and mixed spice in the UK version. They are both a mixture of spices and are interchangeable. So mixed spice is perfect for the cake recipe.

“I'd recommend a mixture of four parts ground cinnamon, one part ground cloves, one part nutmeg,” says CarlyFarine. Mix the three spices together and measure out as much allspice as your recipe calls for.

Spanish Paprika and Cayenne Pepper: Use 3/4 teaspoon of a mild Spanish paprika and about 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper for each teaspoon Piment d'Espelette called for. Taste and add more cayenne if you wish.

Pumpkin spice (a.k.a. pumpkin pie spice) is an aromatic blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Sometimes allspice is included. You can buy the spice blend at the store or use ingredients you already have on hand to make DIY pumpkin spice.

While allspice is a spice on its own, not a blend, it's very easy to create a similar-tasting mixture with spices you already have in your kitchen. Whisk 3½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg and a pinch of ground cloves, then use as a 1:1 replacement for ground allspice in a recipe.

Your bland bread could be the result of rushing the process. Try a slow overnight rise in the refrigerator. Plan ahead to proof your loaf overnight. This hands-off time in the icebox will slow the fermentation process in your dough and result in a complex-flavored loaf.

Q: My pumpkin pie doesn't taste much like pumpkin. Why not? First off, make sure you're using the right kind of pumpkin! Look for pumpkins labeled "sugar pumpkin" or "baking pumpkin." The pumpkins typically used for jack-o'-lanterns are stringy, watery, and bland.

If you attempted to make homemade pumpkin puree from a regular field pumpkin that you would use to carve a jack-o-lantern for Halloween, the result would be stringy, watery, and bland. Instead, use pie pumpkins or sugar pumpkins for the best flavor and texture in any sweet or savory recipe.

"Ironically, there's no actual pumpkin in pumpkin flavoring," says Anne Cundiff, a registered dietitian in Des Moines. "It's actually a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves." Pumpkin flavoring actually harkens back to the pilgrims, Cundiff says.